Aaron Ramsey absent from training ahead of Southampton clash

The World Cup victor with Germany committed his future to Arsenal by signing a new deal.

With his deal at the Emirates coming to an end at the conclusion of next season, the north London club are growing increasingly concerned that a lack of Champions League football could force his hand into running his contract down to the last day.

Speaking at his post-match news conference at The Emirates on Thursday night, Wenger said: "For Aaron it is always the same, if he can have a a consistent presence in the side without being stopped..."

"Yes, I'm confident, he's not at the end of his contract, he has one and a half years to go".

The sides drew 1-1 in the reverse fixture in December and Wenger did not expect to find Southampton 18th in the league, in grave danger of the drop, in the closing stages of the campaign.

The Arsenal faithful will be relieved to know that their key midfield star Aaron Ramsey has recently opened up negotiations to sign a new deal which would keep him at the club for longer. "Honestly I don't know [why]- maybe they had injuries, lost Virgil van Dijk as well and needed time to recover from that". "[Ramsey]'s an important player for me and for the club".

"With the right amount of money we want to pay, all these things have to come together".

He scored a hat-trick in the recent Premier League win over Everton and has only netted more than his current six league goals once, when he notched 10 in 2013/14.

"Sometimes it is to get to the core of the problem when you have recurrence of an injury".

'It is a little like an engine, ' Wenger said. "If you think, they were in League One and when you think back now to the quality of players they had, it is quite impressive".